Journalism Mentoring Sessions: Journalists integrity and Mothers-Day

Ranian Sarairah kicked off the session explaining how she chose the major of “Media and Journalism” in Yarmouk University. Originally, Rania, wanted to switch majors, however she couldn’t and eventually graduated in 2001 with a degree in Media and Journalism. Rania overcame all the obstacles to achieve her goals. With perseverance, and relentless efforts; Rania managed to defend the causes she held so dear throughout her career, which made her grow evermore fond of her work as a journalist.

On Monday March 21st and in the prism of the Future of our Journalism “Mustaqbal Sahafatuna” project; ARDD – Legal Aid team hosted Community Journalism Ms. Rawan Jayyousi, the director of Ammannet and Radio Al Balad, in ARDD – Legal Aid’s offices in Zarqa as part of the series of journalism mentoring sessions. The project is funded by the United States Agency for International Development, as part of the Civic Initiatives Support Program (USAID CIS) implemented by Family Health International (FHI360).

After graduating in 2001, Rania began her career writing for weekly and monthly newspapers, something she did between (2001 – 2007). On 2007, she passed a highly competitive exam by Al Ghad newspaper, thus becoming a writer in Al Ghad newspaper. Throughout her career with Al Ghad newspaper, Rania adopted women issues and labour issues; where she excelled in producing high quality reports and investigative articles addressing these issues.

In her talk, Rania addressed the topic of women in journalism, discussing the various challenges and difficulties they face and how to deal with the popular stereotypes about women in society “With belief, responsibility and ownership of the issues that we defend and hold dear to ourselves; we can overcome every obstacle to prove to ourselves and society that we are able to practice journalism and excel” said Rania.

Break:
A group of particpants from the project surprised Ms. Sarairah, and Future of our Journalism project team Ms. Etaf Roudan and Ms. Zainab AL Khalil with a cake to celebrate mothers-day, as a gesture of gratitude for their efforts in the project and stressing the important role of mothers in all aspects of life for the purpose of creating change in their societies.

Back to the session:
Sarairah spoke about the career’s ethics and called on the participants to preserve their integrity and maintain an un-biased approach to all issues to win the trust of their readers. She also urged them to remain independent in order to sustain their dignity and avoid becoming a tool in the hands of others.

“Journalists must always investigate their news and acquire clear evidence to back up their case and guard themselves against legal issues. Don’t work in journalism only for money, and don’t let yourself be a tool” said Sarairah during her talk.

Rania concluded her talk explaining the two ways in which journalism is done; the first is through producing efforts and holding very tight to the ethics of the profession and avoid doing others harm, in order to earn their respect and protect your integrity as a journalist. The other way is to become a tool in the hands of those who pay, and write news that are harmful, deceptive and inaccurate, merely for personal interests and financial gain.

“With a positive spirit, maximise your input, and equip yourself with the reasons for success, don’t let obstacles distort your vision of the future, and don’t make excuses for yourself, if you fall, stand up, wiped the dust, and carry on” said Rania Sarairah concluding the session.